Lifesaving and protecting suit



H. G. MORNER 2,306,488

LITE SAVING AND PROTECTING SUIT 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 28 1940 H.G. MORNER LIFE SAVING AND PROTECTING SUIT 1 f Dec. 29, 1942.

FiIedMarch 2a, 1940 Z SheetS-Sheet 2' l gg g g Patented Dec. 29, 1942 Izsecsss mrssavmc arm moraormc surr Hans Georg Mahler, Stockholm, SwedenApplication March 28, 1940, Serial no. 326,331

In Sweden September 13, 1939 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improvement ,in life-saving andprotecting suits of-the kind which are provided with an entrance openinglocated,-for instance, on the front side of the suit, for rendering itpossible to put on and take off the suit, said opening being adaptedto'be closed by means of a locking and sealing device. The said sealingdevice consists, in a manner known per se, of strips of rubber or otherelastic material which are attached to and extend along the two meetingedges of the said. entrance open-- ins. one of said strips beingprovided on the side facing the other strip with at least one longitakeup such stresses that might otherwise pull the rib out of engagementwith the groove, so that security is obtained for the sealing deviceremaining water-tight and gas-tight. The sliding tudinally extendingsealing groove, and the other strip being-provided on the side facingthe firstnamed strip with at least one corresponding iongitudinailyextending proiecting sealing rib or tongue, the said rib and groovehaving such crosssectional shapes that, due to the elasticity of thematerial, the rib may be forced in engagement the two strips against oneanother. In this way the sealing device may be easily and rapidly closedis used in water, the lip with the corresponding groove by merelyforcing 'slidable along the two strips and which is provided withpressure members which act upon the outer sides of the strips and forcethe rib into the groove when the slide is moved along the strips. Whilethe said sealing device is supposed to be I water-tight and gas-tight,it cannot be quite relied upon to withstand such stresses which willarise when the suit is used, for instance while the wearer is swimming,and which tend to pull the rib out of engagement with the groove.

This is explained by the fact that, in order to render it possibleeasily and rapidly to close the sealing device, the rib and the groovemust have such cross-sectional shapes that the rib can be brought inengagement with the groove merely by exerting a slight pressure on thetwo strips to force the same against one another, and there is,therefore, a great risk of the ,rib being wholly or partially pulled'outof the groove due to the abo'velnentioned stresses which arise when thesuit is being used. The primary object of the present invention is toobviate this difficulty. For this purpose the invention consistsprincipally in the opening being provided, in addition to the sealingdevice formed bythe two'abovementioned strips, also with a slidingfastener, a so-called. lightning fastener, .,.the locking members ofwhich are attached to the meeting edges of the opening under the strips.

" By this arrangement thesaid sliding fastener will drawings.

according to the invention, Fig. 1 showing the fastener provided underthe strips also provides the great advantage that by the closure of thesaid fastener the two elastic strips are brought strips can easily andrapidly be securely closed by the wearer himself.

In order to render the sealing device absolutely tight it is suitable toprovide one of the elastic strips with a comparatively thin flange orlip which is. so placed that, when the rib has been brought inengagement withthe corresponding groove, the said lip will come to bearagainst the outside of the otherstrip, so that when the suit is forcedagainst the lastmentioned strip by the pressure of the water.

A constructional form of the invention is illustrated by way of examplein the accompanying Figs. 1 and 2 show a life-saving suit sealing devicefully closed, and Fig. 2 showing the same partially closed. Fig. 3'shows to a larger scale a portion of the sealing device viewed fromthefront, and Fig. 4 shows a section through the sealing .device on theline IV-1V- in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows a detail 'ofthe sealing device.

The suit illustrated in the drawings consists of a Jacketportion I whichis intended to surround the body of the wearer, sleeves 2 with gloves 3,.trousers 4, and an elastic collar 5 which is intended to wearer. Allthese parts are made in one integral piece of rubber fabric or somesimilar water-:tight and gas-tight fabric. The Jacket I is provided onthe inside, and preferably both at the front and at the back side, withpaddings l which may suitably be filled with kapok or some similarmaterial whichgives the'suita good buoyancy in water. I

. The suit is provided with a singleentrance opening I which, in theinstance illustrated, is placed at the front side of the suit and whichextends from the upper edge of the collar 5- down to the point where thejacket joins thetrousers,

so as to make it possible to put on the suit rapidly. I 7

When the suit has been put on, the opening l 'must be closed in awater-tight'and gas-tight manner. For this purpose the opening isprovided with a sealing device which consists of two strips I and 0 ofrubber or similar elastic mateclosely surround the neck of the rial,which strips extend along the two meeting edges of the opening and areattached to said edges by means of flexible flanges or-bands l8 and II,respectively,-for instance in the manner that will be apparent from Fig.4. The strip 8 is provided on the side facing the strip 8 with a groovel2 and with a projecting rib i8, and the strip 8 is provided on the sidefacing the strip 8 with a projecting rib M which is adapted to bebrought in engagement with the groove l2. and with a groove i8 which isadapted to receive the projecting rib I8 on the strip 8. These stripsand grooves have such cross-sectional shapes that, as shown in Fig. 4,the greatest width or thickness of the ribs is somewhat larger than thewidth of the openings of the grooves, so that when the two strips areforced against one another it is only due to the elasticity of thematerial that the ribs i3 and M can be brought in engagement with theopposing grooves l5 and i2, respective- In the constructional formillustrated, the strip 9 is provided with a comparatively thin flange orlip l8 which will lie against the outer side of the strip 8 when theribs have been brought in' engagement with the grooves, and when thesuit is is provided with two pairs of rollers I8 and l8 8 which arejournalled on pins and which engage longitudinal grooves 28 in the outersides of the strips. The distance between the two rollers 01' each pairis such that when the slide is moved along the strips the rollers forcethe strips against'each other and thus force the ribs 18 and H inengagement with the corresponding grooves l8 and i2, respectively. Inorder to facilitate the said sliding movement of the slide l'l thelatter is provided with a yoke 2| which is piV-' otally attached to theslide and which serves as a handle. In order to secure the engagementthus produced'between the ribs and the grooves of the strips there maybe provided on the strips, ii desired, one or more additional andsomewhat simpler slides of the type-illustrated in Fig. 5'

and at the bottom of Fig. 3. l

These slides consist simply of a metal strip 2 bent to'U-shape, and thebent ends 28 of the shanks of which engage the grooves 28 in the 1strips 8 and 8. Also these slides 22 may be pro-' vided with yokes 24serving as handles, if it is desired to displace and adjust eachslideseparately. This is not necessary, however, as the slides 22 mayalso be connected to one another and to the main-slide l'l by'means offlexible pull members 28,.for instance chains or metal bands, in suchmanner that when the main slide I1 is pulledupwards. the other slides 22are brought along, each one in its turn, and are thus auto-.

matically adjusted at the desired distances from one another. whichdistances are defined by the length of the pullmembers. The lowermostslide 22 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is supposted to be at, tached to thelower ends of. the strips and thus the grooves II and I2 due to stresseswhich may arise when the suit is used, for instance, when the wearer isswimming, and which tends to pull the strips apart, the opening I isprovided, according to the invention, in addition, to theabove-mentioned sealing device consisting of the two strips 8 and 8,also with a sliding fastener. This fastener is suitably .oi' the kindwhich consists of-locking members 28 which are attached to the edges ofthe opening under the strips 8 and 8, and which may bebrought in and outof engagement with one another by the displacement of a locking slide 28to which a string 21 serving as a handle is attached.

When the suit is not used both the sliding fastener and the sealingdevice 8, 8 should oi course be fully open to render it possible to puton the suit rapidly. The slides II and 22 as well as the locking slide28 of the sliding fastener should then be pushed down to the lower endof the opening 1. Due to the great length or the opening 1 the suit maythen be easily put on without the aid of other persons. It is suitablefirst to put on the trousers 4, and afterwards the sleeves -2 and thegloves 8, and finally the jacket I. The wearer then takes hold of thestring 21 and pulls the locking slide 28 of the sliding fastener all theway up to the upper edge of the collar 5 to which the sliding fastenerextends. At the same time the two strips 8 and 8 are brought in thecorrect position opposite one another. The wearer now takes hold 01' thehandle 2| of the slide 81 and pulls said slide up to the upper end oi.the strips 8 and 8, where the movement of the slide may be limited by asuitable stop, if desired. As shown in Fig; 2, the strips 8 and 8 maysuitably end at v pull members 28 in the manner above explained,

the slides 22, with the exception of the lowermost one, will moveupwards when the slide I! is pulled up. w 4

The wearer can now safely Jump into the water, where he will be keptfloating by the airenclosed in the suit and by the puddings 8.Simultaneously, the air enclosed in the suit is heat-insulating,

so that even if the wearerhas to stayvin the water fora long time, hishealth will not necessarily be impaired.

serves together withthe said pull members 28 to limit the upwardmovement of the other slides. In order tovsecurely prevent the ribs l8and H from being pulled out of engagement with The constructional formabove described andillustrated in the drawings is only to be regarded asan example, and it will be understood that its details may be modifledin various ways without departing from-the principle of the invention.It thesuitistobeusedasaprotectingsuit against 88s attacks, it should ofcourse be combined with a as-tight capo! rubber fabric or the like witha gas mask.

I claim: .7 Y

1. A life-saving suit having a collar and an, entrance opening. dividingsaid collar and extending downwards therefrom, a sealing device for saidopening extending upwardly from the lower end of said opening to thelower'edge 01 said collar and comprising sealing strips of elasticmate'- rial adjacent the meeting edges of said opening. one of saidsealing strips having at least one aroove extending longitudinallythereof. and the other of said sealing strips having at least oneprojecting'rib to substantially fit the same and extendinglongitudinally thereof, the said rib and groove being of suchcross-sectional form that said groove'may be forced onto said rib insealing engagement therewith due only to the elasticity of the materialthereof, a slide holding the adjameshing members each attached to one ofthemeeting edges of said entrance opening inside of said sealing deviceand extending from the lower end of said entrance opening to the upperedge of said collar, whereby said. sealing device covers said slidingfastener except at the upper end thereof to permit said collar to beclosed initially but opened subsequently without opening said sealingdevice. H

2. In a life saving suitor the like, an entrance opening, a sealingdevice forsaid opening comprising sealing strips of elastic materialalong the meeting edges of said opening, one of said sealing stripshaving at least one groove extending longitudinally thereof, and, theother ofsaid sealing strips having at least one corresponding projectingrib extending longitudinally thereof, the said rib and groove being ofsuch cross-sectional form that said groove may be forced ontofsaici ribin sealing and locking engagement therewith due only to the elasticityof the material thereof, at

ible flangewhich extends over a substantial part Y 3 least one of saidsealing strips having a thin flexsealing action for the interlockedjoint when said engaged strips are subjected to external pressure, 3.vIn a life saving suit or the like, an entrance opening, a sealingdevice forsaid opening 'com-.

prising sealing strips of elastic material along the meeting edges ofsaid opening. one of said sealing strips having at least one grooveextending longitudinally thereof, and the-other of saidsealing stripshaving at least one corresponding pro- :I'ecting rib extendinglongitudinally thereof, the

said rib and groove being of such cross-sectional form that said groovemaybe forced onto said rib in sealing and locking engagement therewithdue only to the elasticity of the material thereof, each of said sealingstrips having a thin flexible flange which extends over a substantialpart of the adjacent surface of the other sealing strip when saidsealing strips are in sealing and interlocking engagement, said flangesbearing closely against'and overlying the adjacent surface of said othersealing strip so as to provide additional sealing action for theinterlocked joint when said engaged strips are subjectedto fluid HANSonoaq MORNER.

